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Meeting Guidelines
ACARE is using basic and well-studied concepts of human interaction, information exchange, and meetings to advance the health of the African Great Lakes so that the millions of people who rely on these resources can realize their own vision of livelihoods.
The events that ACARE administers include meetings, conferences, workshops and other gatherings. To help make such gatherings effective and efficient, ACARE has created a set of guidelines to ensure the participants and meeting conveners have established expectations.
The below guidelines are for ACARE-facilitated meetings. The below guidelines are specific to those who are being funded by ACARE or its partners.
These guidelines are for participants of ACARE-facilitated or -sponsored events who have been invited to be a part of a particular event.
ACARE Meeting Coverage:
As a sponsored participant of an ACARE event, you can expect to have your flight covered, a visa (if needed), and DSA to cover your hotel/accommodation and related expenses during your stay.
Please be aware that sponsorship changes from event to event and is often based on available funding from partners, projects, or other sources. Thus, conditions change and at times, support will change, sometimes for the better.
Please be patient with our team. We are working to make our collective freshwater resources healthier, and to do so, we must work together. So lets work together, for the lakes!
Daily Subsistence Allowance
Annual Meetings:
Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) will be provided to each member for the days of travel and each day of the event. Typically, for an annual meeting, DSA will be around USD 100/day. ACARE will make every effort to provide U.S. dollars to each member, however, due to international monetary carrying and wiring constraints, members can expect some local currency.
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Other Meetings or Events:
Any meeting that supports participants, will follow the above guidelines, however, depending on the event, funding support, and funder guidelines, DSA may differ from USD 100/day.
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Note that DSAs will also depend on the daily activities of individual events and whether accommodations are provided. For example, if meals are provided for some (or all) days of an event, the DSA will be lower for that individual day (or event), as participants would not need to purchase those meals. Additionally, some events or meetings might require a single hotel that all participants must stay in due to the nature of the event (such as a workshop) or the location (no other possibilities are available). In these cases, the hotel will be booked by ACARE for all participants and DSA would not include money for accommodations.
Accommodations
When receiving a DSA, you are responsible for securing, and paying for, your own accommodations. ACARE will make efforts to highlight accommodations where a majority of the participants, and staff, will be staying. We encourage all participants to stay at, or very near, the identified accommodation to facilitate networking and socializing among colleagues. Suggested accommodations will consider cost and safety when choosing hotels.
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If you choose not to stay at the designated event hotel, you should stay within a 15-20 minute walk (at most) to the event location for ease of arriving at the event in a timely manner. You are expected to arrive at the meeting venue at least 10 minutes prior to the start of each day/session.
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Transport to and from your accommodations to the event site will not be provided unless otherwise noted. See Local Transport section.
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If you are participating in a specific event, you can contact the event coordinator to request being a part of a group rate at the designated event hotel.
Flights/Travel
This section refers to getting from your home city or country to the event city.
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Please see Local Transport section for all other travel guidelines.
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Flights:
If the destination is too far to travel by road, ACARE will support round-trip flights from their nearest, home airport to the event-city airport.
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Flights will be purchased in economy class. A balance between inexpensive and time-traveled will be calculated. When necessary, or as airline schedules allow, participants may have to arrive to the event-city a day early. Travel inconveniences occur with all travel and, while we will make our best efforts to reduce such inconveniences, we don't control the airline schedules and flights.
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If you are flying from a location outside of the ten African Great Lakes riparian countries, you must contact the event coordinator to have your travel approved, as budgets are largely based on regional flights.
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Overland:
For those within driving distance (~8 hours), ground transportation costs will be provided. For those traveling by road, you must provide a cost estimate of round-trip prior to travel. Private hires or chauffeured staff vehicles will not be funded unless pre-approved. Such costs are often more expensive than flights. To arrange overland travel, contact the event coordinator.
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Local Transportation
This section refers to:
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Travel to and from your house to your nearest airport
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Travel to and from the event-city airport to the venue or accommodations, and
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Local event-city transport
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1. From your house to the airport:
ACARE will not fund transport to and from your house to your nearest airport. In exceptional circumstances, local transport reimbursement will be made based on need and with receipts submitted. Such transportation must not exceed USD 30. You must preapprove such transportation through the event coordinator to receive reimbursement.
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2. Travel to and from the event-city airport to the venue/accommodation
ACARE will make efforts to ​offer transportation from the event-city airport to the venue or hotel, especially when a larger number of participants arrive together. However, you should be prepared to make your way to your accommodations or venue on your own, checking with your hotel to see if they supply shuttle service.
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3. Local event-city transport:
ACARE will not support local, event-city transportation (e.g. taxis or shuttles) from hotels to the event venue. We suggest that you stay in accommodations within walking distance the event venue. See Accommodations section for more details.
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Travel Documents
Except for Visas, participants are responsible for all travel documents related to their travel, whether domestic or international.
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1) Visa: Participants will need to obtain their own visa (if required for attending the event). A Participant may either arrange to have their visa paid for directly by ACARE, if such processes exist, or provide ACARE with receipts regarding visa acquisition for reimbursement. Visas will only be reimbursed at single-entry costs. When applying for a visa, you might need a Letter of Invitation.
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2) Passport: Participants are responsible for their own passport. ACARE is not responsible for Passports. You will need a valid and up-to-date passport that will not expire within six months of entering the country you are visiting.
3) Letter of Invitation. Click here for more information.
Letter of Invitation // Certificates of Attendance
Letters of Invitation will be provided for all participants. To expedite a letter for your organizational-permission or visa-process, please contact the event coordinator.
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Certificates of Attendance will be provided to all participants. ACARE will make every effort to provide physical copies at the end of the event. However, timing and funding could prohibit such actions and in that case, an electronic copy will be provided.
Health
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ACARE is not responsible for vaccines or other medical aspects of a participant's care.
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All vaccines and medical prophlaxis (including COVID) and associated costs are the participant's responsibility.
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The below are guidelines, please get expert advice from health professionals regarding your travel and heatlh.
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1) Vaccines you should have or have updated for traveling
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COVID
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Hepatitis A
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Hepatitis B
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Typhoid
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Cholera
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Rabies
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Measles Mumps Rubella (MMR)
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TDAP (Tetanus, Diphtheria & Pertussis)
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Chickenpox
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Influenza
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Polio
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Yellow Fever
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Meeting Code of Conduct
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The African Center for Aquatic Research and Education (ACARE) is committed to providing a safe, hospitable, and productive environment for everyone attending ACARE-facilitated events, regardless of ethnicity, religion, disability, physical appearance, gender identity, or sexual orientation. A community where people feel uncomfortable or threatened is neither healthy nor productive. Accordingly, ACARE prohibits intimidating, threatening, or harassing conduct during its events. This code applies to speakers, volunteers, attendees and staff.
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For the purposes of this code, harassment includes: offensive gestures or verbal comments related to ethnicity, religion, disability, physical appearance, gender identity, or sexual orientation; deliberate intimidation; stalking; harassing photography or recording; sustained disruption of presentations or other events; inappropriate physical contact; and unwelcome attention. Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately.
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If a meeting participant engages in harassing behavior, ACARE leadership reserves the right to investigate and take any action it deems appropriate, ranging from a simple warning to the offender to expulsion from the current and future events. Persons being harassed or observing possible harassment are asked to contact a member of ACARE staff to resolve the situation.
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Board members and Secretariat staff value participants’ attendance at ACARE meetings and other events. We strive to make everyone’s experience as productive and professionally stimulating as possible.
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Please direct any concerns or comments regarding this code to Ted Lawrence, Executive Director.
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Event Contact
Please direct any questions or requests about your event to Zeph Migeni.
Please be specific about your request and include:
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Your full name
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Event name or title
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Your request or question
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Good Faith Agreement
ACARE is making every effort to enhance the work on the African Great Lakes, to strengthen science and support the scientific community. We are working hard to ensure that all resources are used to bring the collective community together to be able to work more effectively. Thus, we value every dollar we get to make sure flights, visas, DSAs, and meeting spaces are all taken care of.
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We understand that life events happen, plans change, and schedules beyond our control often prevent us from going about the business we intend. It is thus, here that we enter into a good faith agreement with all participants that partake in ACARE-sponsored activities:
ACARE and the participants of ACARE-sponsored events, including all members of the ACARE-facilitated Advisory Groups, agree, in good faith, to participate and follow the guidelines outlined herein.
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For those who cannot make it to an ACARE-sponsored event, without appropriate notification, could be charged with financial ramification regarding airline ticket or hotel cancellation fees. Should these actions not be feasible, future participation in ACARE-sponsored events could be compromised.
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